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Thursday, 24 August 2017

Toybox REVIEW: S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Amazon Sigma

Release Date: July 2017

RRP: 6696 yen

The second season of Kamen Rider Amazons may have come and gone, but the S.H. Figuarts line still has a few characters from the first season up its sleeve before kicking off season two with Kamen Rider Amazon Neo in October. The first of these two Tamashii web exclusive releases is S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Amazon Sigma, which will be followed by Mamoru/Mole Amazon also in October. Amazon Sigma is the resurrected Peston Service member Jun Maehara, his corpse reanimated with Amazon Cells to become Nozama’s ultimate Amazon killing machine.

S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Amazon Sigma comes packaged in a standard windowless box featuring the same layout and graphics as the previously released Amazons Figuarts – only this time in a purple colour scheme to match Sigma’s eyes and transformation effects. As well as a nice big image of the figure on the front the back features the usual array of Bandai stock images, while inside the figure is spread across two clear plastic trays – one for the figure, and one for the accessories tucked away underneath.

In-show Kamen Rider Amazon Sigma is actually a recoloured version of Amazon Omega’s initial Driver-less “Origin” form, but since that hasn’t had a toy yet (never say never though – Bandai love an easy repaint!) that makes this Sigma a unique design amongst the currently released Figuarts. The Sigma suit is heavily derived from the original Amazon design (and as such Amazon Alpha as well), but with a more organic one-piece suit look that isn’t broken up by black gloves or boots. The added ferocity is also emphasised in the back and arm spikes, which are uncomfortably pointy even on a plastic toy. The colours and sculpting of the figure are all on point, with that beautiful silver colourscheme effectively broken up by the black undersuit and driver, strips of metallic blood-red paint and of course those piercing purple compound eyes.

Being an organic Rider in design Sigma is largely free from any sort of cumbersome armour and so is free to enjoy the wide range of articulation the S.H. Figuarts line has to offer. Sigma features the usual array of ball joints in the neck, shoulders, torso, and wrists along with double-hinged elbows and knees, bicep cuts, ankle rockers and hinged toe caps. Like his fellow Amazons figures Sigma utilises the old style swing-down ball joint hips which seems a bit odd on newer figures, but the hips themselves are pretty stiff and don’t really require a whole lot of downwards movement to get a good range of motion out of them. Finally Sigma’s tiny shoulder pads are attached directly to the arms via tiny ball joints, so shouldn’t get in the way when posing the arms.

t’s very rare for additional hands to be considered an exciting accessory for a figure, but Sigma is just one of those characters where the selection could make or break the figure. Sigma comes with six additional hands, including two pairs of open hands but more importantly two number gesture hands signifying how many moves he’s going to beat his opponent in. These come in both three and four move varieties, depending on how easy a battle you want to make it for him. Being a zombie Amazon with a fantastic suit design was more than enough to seal Sigma’s cool factor, but these little exchanges before the fights were pretty defining to the character so it’s great to see Bandai not skimp on them.

While most collectors usually roll their eyes at the words “Tamashii web exclusive”, this status does have a nice bonus when it comes to Sigma. Whereas the transformation flame effect parts are exclusively bundled with the Amazon.co.jp versions of Alpha, Omega and the forthcoming Neo, here they just come as part of the standard package. These four translucent purple flame pieces are all different shapes and simply clip onto Sigma’s body, simulating the Amazon Driver transformation effect. While many undoubtedly skipped over the Amazon.co.jp releases of the others for the sake of cost/ease, one can certainly see the appeal of these parts with a set in hand. They look fantastic on the figure, and more effect parts are definitely never a bad thing.

S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Amazon Sigma is cut from the same cloth as the previous two Amazons releases so if you’ve already picked either of those up (and if you’re buying Sigma I can only assume you have) you’ll have a pretty good idea of what you’re getting, only here it feels like you’re getting the full package without having to jump through any hoops. Forget Amazon exclusives or bike-bundled accessories, here you’re getting an incredible looking figure with everything he needs to feel complete (that is until the Mole Amazon is released anyway). Kamen Rider Genm might not be getting released until October, but don’t miss out this chance to pick up the original Dangerous Zombie.